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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Last year several of our MFGN members took part in Zainil Zainuddin's postgraduate research on urban food
production, by recording their harvest. Zainil has recently completed her research and says about her findings
"The research area was limited to within a 70km radius of
Melbourne CBD. The data collection period ran from July 2012 to July
2013. This was deliberately designed to capture inter-seasonal yield. In
all, 15 households took part in the research and each participant
contributed 12 weeks’ worth of data.

The collective plot size was 1,096 square metres, with a total yield
of 388.73 kg worth of fruits, vegetables, nuts, honey and meat. A total
of 1,015 eggs were also recorded. The study found that backyard food
production was capable of producing a great diversity of edibles from
common kitchen garden herbs to less commonly cultivated fruits and
vegetables, as well as less commercially available varieties like
amaranth, apple cucumber, acorn squash, butter squash, babaco, cape
gooseberry, edible canna, elderflower, gem squash, loganberry, nettle,
oca, orache, purslane, rat-tailed radish, viola flower, warrigal green,
white mulberry and yacon. In total, 101 different types of nuts, fruits
and vegetables were generated during the study period."
To read the more about of the results of her study the full article is available on the Permaculture Research Institute website.

Zainil also writes the blog Urban food gardening, vegetarianism and sustainable actioning, for people interested in finding out more about her ongoing research into urban food production. She explains growing her own food "as our action and
statement against the transnational food corporation monopolisation of
the food we eat... It is also an attempt to reduce our food mileage to a small
degree vis-a-vis peak oil. I wish more and more people would take up
food gardening. It is doable and fun and very satisfying... By growing your own food and preparing your own food from scratch, you are taking back some control over the food you eat."

Welcome to our website.

The Moreland Food Gardens Network provides an opportunity for people in Moreland to come together on a regular basis to share information and collaborate in a variety of ways to improve food access and urban agriculture in the area.